Laserfiche WebLink
<br />~030 <br /> <br />Where all power and all means of livelihood center in the state, the <br />people are helpless to voice a ~Iord of dissent. The state is the one employer,\: <br />all citizens are employees, To be blacklisted by one trust means blacklisting <br />by all trusts, denial of ration caras, beggardom and slow death, In Russia, you <br />either conform, or elsel <br /> <br />Not the least of the deficiencies of the Russian system is the communist's <br />fundamentally atheistic basis for behavior, While they do tolerate religion, they <br />do not venerate its precepts. They do not hold a concept of right as an abstract <br />standard to be adhered to regardless of consequences. They do not promulgate the <br />Golden Rule or the Ten Commandments as a guide to action. Their criterion of <br />right and wrong is expediency, expediency with reference to the interests or object- <br />ives of the state - - the Soviet State, As 'a part of this policy, they sUbscribe <br />to the po,tulate that the ends justify the means; acts \\hich transgress our prin- <br />ciples rNl.y be condoned if they are deemed, by those in power, to contribute to tlle <br />general welfare, which, peculiarly, always happens to be synonymous with Party <br />welfare. <br /> <br />.1'0 m:y mind, Good is not a matter of convenience or expediency or oppor- <br />'\bliS1i. I cannot conceive that a system of organization of human relationships <br />1$.. fUMamentally right if that system does not have its roots in a moral code <br />~~d on the tenets of religion, <br /> <br />Question: Based on your years of contact with communists and your observation of <br />life in Russia, what would be your appraisal of communism? <br /> <br />Answer: "Frommch according to his ability, to each according to his needs." It <br />is a noble thesis, embracing, as it does, the concept of unselfishness. To the <br />many who consider themaelves the victims of discrimination, it has much sex appeal. <br />It is a powerful base for emotional propaganda. <br /> <br />As a practical modus operandi, it is a flop. The communists themselves <br />admit that they had to abandon communism. They have adopted piece work, incentive <br />systems, and other practices which are innate to capitalism, They explain that <br />these are temporary concessions necessitated by the fact that "people are not yet"..' <br />ready for communism." . <br /> <br />This is, in effect, <br />To try to get anywhere with <br />in a left shoe. <br /> <br />. f" <br />an admission that communism doesn't fit human natur.l' <br /> <br />communism is like trying to walk w.i. th the right foot <br /> <br />If people were perfect, communism would be a practical system. But if <br />people were perfect, capitalism also would be above criticism. '!he real test of <br />a system is its ability to withstand and to accommodate the vagaries of human <br />nature, It has been demonstrated in Russia that pure communism cannot. function at <br />all, ani that statism can operate only with creaks and groans. It has been dem~. <br />strated in America that free enterprise can function tolerably well, in spite of'~' <br />human deficiencies. <br /> <br />The history of cOllllllunism in Russia is not a story of the emancipa.tion of <br />a Nation; rather, it is a story of the enslavement of a Nation, <br /> <br />-8- <br />